Photos from Jon's South Pole Trip

Hi everyone! Welcome to my South Pole photo gallery. I realize I have now posted tons of photos and the page is probably starting to take a long time to load. Sorry. Check out the linked index to skip to your favorite section. I may still get a highlight-real together sometime...

Photos from the plane

Is this Antarctica already? Nope, Wisconsin. I'm just getting started.

These are some beautiful shots of the mountains on the way from Auckland, NZ to Christchurch, NZ.
I can't wait to come back to NZ and meet Jess to tour around for 2 weeks.

This is quite the big muddy river. This photo was just minutes after the mountain shots.
Once you arrive in the area around Christchurch called Canterbury, it quickly becomes amazingly flat.

My hotel room in Christchurch. I would have opened the blinds to let more light in but it was too hot!

CDC

This is the outside of the Antarctic Center, a major tourist attraction like a science museum about the South Pole but with penguins. I didn't go inside yet.
I had to pick up my gear at the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC) nearby.

Entrance to CDC. Sorry I can't rotate photos just yet.

All the gear available to "check out" from the US government.

I guess Clinton visited. Lots of politicians/dignitaries won't pass up a trip to the SP.

Merry Christmas! Now get on your plane.

The changing room in the CDC. Each of those bags is full of gear for someone about to depart. Where's mine?

All the gear required to be worn on the plane. It is your "passport."

The back storage room at the CDC. Lots of gear in lots of sizes!

All of my Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) issue. Now I have to figure out how to fit it in the right bags.

Christchurch area

The Christchurch Botanical Gardens. I didn't actually have much time to explore.

One strange thing about NZ is that there are very few mammals (only bats, I read).

I kept hearing small animals and looking thinking it would be a squirrel or chipmunk, but no, just birds everywhere.

Merry Christmas again, this time on Cathedral Square! Christmas decorations are erie with all the other green trees around.

Departing Christchurch

We were all briefed about how to fly on a military plane, in lieu of a flight stewardess giving a safetly briefing.
Oh, and common sense stuff about Antarctica. I think I learned that it's cold.

Aboard the shuttle to the Airforce National Guard plane. We really have to wear our ECW in the steaming heat!

This was the first and last we saw of our plane for for a while. We hadn't even made it off the shuttle before they sent us back to the terminal - weather delay!

Passengers eating breakfast in the Antarctic Center cafe after the plane was delayed. Breakfast turned out to be important with the meals they gave us on the plane.

Hey look! People wearing clothes like ours! I felt like a part of the attraction... I don't think I'll be doing any repelling from the ceiling while on The Ice though.

I meant to stand next to these dummies with all my gear on but forgot! (and it was hot)

A plaque commemorating those in the military who have died in operations exploring and supporting Antarctic operations.
The last name I see on there is from 1997.

Ah! Finally back to the plane. The Airforce National Guard unit out of NY handles most flights to The Ice. The plane is an LC-130 cargo plane and the trip will take 8 hours. See the skis?

Big fuel tanks, but only enough for a one-way trip! (or half-way there and half-way back)

Aboard the LC-130

Passengers seated in the jump seats on board the LC-130.

The strangest item in our lunch bag: Burger Rings, Full on burger flavor, while in one corner it says all natural flavor and in the other corner (covered by thumb) it says natural corn crips. I don't know how they got corn to taste like burgers with all natural flavoring. But it has a penguin on it, so it's okay.

That's our loadmaster getting ready to set up the bathroom. See that curtain? That's supposed to cover the bathroom.

Me looking down at my bag lunch and FDX blue boots. We had to keep most of our ECW. The flight was at some points boiling hot and others icey cold. Not designed for comfort.

Talk about out of the frying pan, into the fire. You might have to zoom in to read it, but right above the emergency exit it says "Danger, propeller."

A full view of the cargo hold. Sorry it's blury, but the plane was vibrating.

Some people in the jump seats.

I knew Jess would like to know that the military really uses the Little Giant Ladder System (like in the infomercials).

The first glimpse of some Antarctic mountains peaking their heads through the cloud cover.

Me, working on an abstract for a talk that was due the next day! It took me a while to get comfy and warm on the seat with my big red parka.

Mountains again. I thought this picture was exciting at the time, but it is nothing.

Free day at MCM

Evan is a lab tech traveling with me to the SP, but we're going up that hill behind him first (Observation Hill).

Some buildings in MCM. Mountains in the background don't come out very well in the photo.

I took this same picture with every setting on my camera. Can anyone edit this to bring out the mountain in the background.

That mountain is called Mt Erebus, the southern-most active volcano.

I think this is the best image one so far. You can see the volcano smoking.

Sights and Evan on the way up the hill. A big oil depot since fuel is used for almost all power.

The world as seen from the top of Ob Hill. Can you see the airstrip out there?

Erebus in the distance again.

The cross at the top. See the plaque in the following photos.

Erebus again.

Erebus and me.

View of MCM from Ob Hill. Okay, honestly, how are you supposed to read that plaque on the right without falling off the cliff?
If you zoom in on the penisula in the upper-left, you will see Scott's hut, built 102 years ago! That's where I went next.

The plaque that goes with the cross.

In 4 languages, to make sure no one violates the treaty protecting this historic site.

Ob Hill from the bottom again. Doesn't look so big now.

This looks like it belongs on the moon or something.

Dog sleds! Even though dogs are banned by that treaty.

Richard Byrd, one of the early military leaders paving the way for science in Antartica.

The helipad. These are mostly to support field camps in the area, but I never saw any fly.

I really like these fancy tread trucks. Firemen in the background preparing to drill.

Firemen drilling. At least I hope it was a drill, because I was just standing nearby watching.

"Flipper", it says on the side.

Probably the cutest little vehicle around.

This is the National Science Foundation (NSF) Chalet. Beeker is supposed to be a demeaing, yet affectionate term for scientists, so it's funny that the NSF Chalet is on Beeker St.

Immediately after I took the first picture I noticed this "Do Not Freeze" crate sitting outside freezing.

The sun dial is really quite accurate, but I'll still trust my watch.

Someone with too much time on their hands, probably someone who spent the winter here. Actually, it is a pretty impressive sculpture.

Runoff from the hills nearby. There is quite a drainage system set up so the ground doesn't erode out from under the base.

This is the peir for the port. It looks pretty pathetic at the moment.

I think this is the Antarctic version of the Scamp camping trailer.

You'll have to zoom in to see the statue of the skier on the hill.

A skua. Some people think they are a pest since they try to steal your food.

What are you looking at?

This is a dead seal from the time Scott was here over 100 years ago. Stuff just doesn't decompose very quickly here.

Scott's hut. Another historic site. I think he was the first to the South Pole. (It's hard to keep all these explorer's straight.)

Apparently you can get a key to look inside. They left it exactly as Scott left it.

I tried to take a picture through the window and failed. If you zoom in you can almost make out some boxes.

The sea ice. This side of the bay melts some in the summers.

The trail to the end of Hut Point.

Me and the bay.

Evan and another cross... I can't remember what this one commemorated.

McMurdo Station from Hut Point.

That's the shipping lane that the icebreakers make each year to get supplies into McMurdo.

I like this shot of the trails around Hut Point. People were actually jogging out there in shorts.